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Nestle invests $2mln in new equipment, products

HARARE, April 6 (The Source) – The local unit of Swiss-based food manufacturer Nestle says it has invested $2 million in plan upgrade and new products, which could increase revenue by half over the next five years.

“What we have done is that we leveraged some of the assets which were there and we upgraded the building to ensure that it suits the new products..…….all the investment that we did to develop the new products, market it is between $1,5 million to $2 million, apart of the $30 million (invested by the company in upgrading its factory since 2011),” said Nestle South Cluster (Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi) Managing Director Ben Ndiaye.

Nestle, which produces Cerevita, Everyday Milk, Cremora and Cerelac among others, expects to export the new products to Zambia, Malawi, South Africa and Botswana.

“We have to create the brands because some of our products like cerevita is not known in other countries like Zambia. We have already started to send the first cremora and cerevita to Zambia and we will continue with other markets and other products soon. We believe that with the capacity we have here and the size of our factory, we can explore neighboring markets,” said Ndiaye.

The company’s capacity utilisation is at 75 percent and it is expecting to launch seven other new products by end of June this year.